This invention relates to methods and apparatus for transmitting music over a communications network, and more particularly, to methods and apparatus for creating a playlist of music for use with personalized music stations.
The transmission of music over the Internet is well known. Several Internet services have been developed to permit users to select particular types of music to be transmitted to the user's equipment. On-line music services allow various options, including the option of listening to a digital music programming on which the songs are programmed by music programming professionals; listening to a station that plays music selected according to the user's preferences; or listening to programming that plays music according to the preferences of other users. Typically, the stations programmed by professionals are divided into categories, such as rock, oldies, classical, etc. The professional programming is programmed by professional music directors who choose the songs and the frequency of their rotation within any given set of music programming. Except for choosing a broad category of music type, the listener has no input into the music that gets played on the professional stations, other than being able to skip ahead in their playlist as desired.
User-defined stations are typically created after the user provides input on their musical preferences. This transmission of music to a particular user has been referred to as a “personalized music station” or “personal music station”. To create such personal music stations, the music service provider generally requests that the user provides some preferences with respect to music type. Then the music service provider either selects a predetermined playlist or creates a playlist in response to the user preferences. The playlist subsequently selects and sequences the songs that are transmitted to the user.
However, playlists created in response to user preferences may not adequately represent prolific artists, or can include too many songs by little-known, minor, or brand-new artists. If the music service has a large database of available songs, an indication of interest in broad categories of music type, such as rock, oldies, classical, etc. may not sufficiently narrow the focus of the playlist to meet the user's expectations. It would be desirable to simplify the playlist building process, provide for a greater ability to keep station content current, and relevant, improving the diversity of playlists for user stations in general, and ensuring automatic compliance with broadcast requirements.